City
The fun and the fury of Pedestrian Sunday
Car-free Sundays in Kensington Market are shaping up to be one of the most divisive recurring events in the city. For a couple years now we've heard rumblings about how some local businesses in the market feel shutting the streets to cars is bad for business. But with the unveiling of new gates last week that are designed to keep cars out of the market it seems that tensions have escalated.
These seven new semi-permanent street planters equipped with swinging gates come at a reported price tag of $179,000, paid for by the City as well as the Kensington BIA (which collects dues from local businesses). Seems like a steep price for a barrier and some businesses aren't happy about it. Ossie Pavao, owner of Casa Acoreana, told the National Post the gates are a "monstrosity".
Pavao is so upset with local Councillor Adam Vaughan that he goes as far as threatening a physical altercation. "He's not welcome here, he told the Post. " If he steps on this property, I have every legal right to grab him by the scruff of the neck and throw him off the property."
Needless to say the latest installment of Pedestrian Sunday went off (reportedly) without incident. Shoppers still bought bags of chocolate chips and oat flour, there was much conversation and revelry to be had; and but for some disgruntled business owners mixed amongst the crowd it seemed all was alright with the world.
What do you think? Did you visit Kensington on Sunday? What do you think of the new gates?
Photos by Tom Ryaboi
Discussion
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A simple removable barrier and a sign is all that's needed. Talk about overkill.
On any day, (pedestrian Sunday or otherwise) how many shoppers arrive by car?
I'm taking bets. Pavao seems super pissed, but I don't think Vaughan is one to back down from a fight. I've currently got Vaughan at 3:1
Mr. Pavao has some strange business ideas if he thinks multitudes of pedestrians supporting local business is worse than a few people driving past his shop at 20 km an hour.
I will say people walking through Kensington with Tim Hortons or Starbucks makes me cringe but you cannot begrudge someone's personal preference.
Meanwhile, Pavao et al, please spare me the whining. New York closes SEVEN MILES of streets for their version of Pedestrian Sundays. A half dozen other big cities in North America do too. Enough already, it's 2012 and you're operating a business in the most successful downtown on the continent -- deal with it.
People spend a lot in advertising to try to get that kind of foot traffic in front of their stores. Maybe they won't buy anything this time around but they now know about the area and if they do have a need for your product maybe they will come back.
Sure, the gates are a bit big, but they're necessary for Kensington to be "officially" pedestrianized without requiring an off-duty cop to oversee traffic closures.
http://assets.dnainfo.com/generated/photo/2011/10/1318441432.jpg/image240x180.jpg
It's well-intentioned, of course. But why is it necessary? Besides that it sounds neat and progressive (car-free neighbourhood, woo!) does it actually make the area better in any way?
I AM EFFING FURIOUS!!!!
For something like Kensington, you could use manual ones that from what I understand could be bought for something like $500 a pop (so, $2k per closure for 7 intersections is $14k, give ourselves $100k for installation, gives us about $115k total) which would have been more functional and cheaper. On the other hand, the current ones have art on them.
For the event, I was there with my 3-1/2 year old, and we both loved it, spent lots of money we wouldn't otherwise have done, and I got a sunburn. I think they should do it every day.
Or you could ask him how you could help him and if he'd like to purchase something.
Personally, I like to shop in Kensington, on any day of the week, because of the atmosphere. That atmosphere includes Pedestrian Sundays. While I may not purchase something on a particular Sunday, I do make purchases on other days.
1. Casa Acoreana is closed on Sundays, no?
2. The barriers need to be that size, to stop a constant steam of pedestrians from blocking East-West traffic crossing Augusta. Nassau, etc do not close, do not block them.
3. The market was as busy as it ever is, enjoy PS Kensington!
Or put another way, what exactly is lost by not having cars through Kensington on Sunday's ??
I think this is a great idea, the market is living upto it's name...
Nice change and avenue for the city to have on laxxy Sunday's.
truth be told i almost never go through Kensington despite living within walking distance, i just don't really get the outrage when the street is closed to vehicular traffic for what amounts to less than 4% of the week.
this is almost as awesome as newly moved-in beaches residents complaining about people going to the beach.
At $65 per hour, one officer on one eight-hour Sunday, ensuring that a temporary barricade is obeyed, costs about $520. There are seven road closures, so I'll presume seven officers to monitor them, and eleven market and festival days just in 2012 (market days August and September only). The total policing cost is somewhere around $40K.
According to the Kensington Market BIA website, the plan is to expand market Sundays to include June and July, doubling the number of market days, so this would bring policing costs up to somewhere around $80K per year.
In light of these numbers, the cost of the new barricades ($179K in total, or about $25K each) looks smart. It'll pay off in fewer than two years.
Having recently been to NYC and experiencing Little Italy where they close the street to cars during the day on weekends I can say it's not hurting business.
As for the cost of the barriers, it seems excessive. One would think the BIA took some time to research the most cost effective options.
Also, I don't recall stuttering anything I said; it looks as if you have reading comprehension problems in addition to dyslexia.
For a good time, call 311... or go here: http://wx.toronto.ca/festevents.nsf/
Surely you knew you'd have to live with a certain amount of chaos every weekend. It ain't the Annex.
'Regrettably true: for removable barricades (like those found at festivals) an off duty police officer is required. And they are expensive! ($65+ per hour, each, plus supervisors.)
At $65 per hour, one officer on one eight-hour Sunday, ensuring that a temporary barricade is obeyed, costs about $520. There are seven road closures, so I'll presume seven officers to monitor them, and eleven market and festival days just in 2012 (market days August and September only). The total policing cost is somewhere around $40K.
According to the Kensington Market BIA website, the plan is to expand market Sundays to include June and July, doubling the number of market days, so this would bring policing costs up to somewhere around $80K per year.
In light of these numbers, the cost of the new barricades ($179K in total, or about $25K each) looks smart. It'll pay off in fewer than two years.'
-Originally said by K
Also there are hidden costs associated with the barricades as they will be removed in the fall and (heaven forbid) returned in the spring. Therefore there are annual transportation, storage and reinstallation costs. There's also the gardener's annual contract for the planters. And there's also lost city parking revenue from the seven parking spots they occupy.
The barricades are overbuilt such that they could survive civil unrest and even a nuclear armageddon so chances are they'll outlive the entire population of Toronto if reason does not prevail and they're removed. I hope someone is smart enough to realize a mistake has been made and work toward having them scrapped.
On the bright side, when they're removed for good, they'll be worth their weight in scrap metal, about $179.00 total.
The steel barricades cost $179,000 and someone should do a comparison between that and the rental/ownership costs of traffic cones / crowd control fences. That would be an eye-opener.